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International Criminal Law
1. International Criminal Law International criminal law prohibits certain actions by individuals and establishes the sanctions applicable when an individual commits those actions. In this regard, criminal law (whether domestic or international) differs from human rights law and international law generally, in that those held accountable are individuals, rather than governments. International criminal law can be distinguished from domestic criminal law in that the former penalizes crimes which are particularly egregious and capable of producing wide-scale harm (such as crimes against humanity or genocide) and those crimes that can be thought of as ‘international’ in that they involve actions traditionally carried out by States or their agents (war crimes, acts of aggression) or are of a trans-national, or multi-jurisdictional, nature (terrorism, drug trafficking, piracy, slave trade 2. International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946. The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). Of the six principal organs of the United Nations, it is the only one not located in New York (United States of America). The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies. The Court is composed of 15 judges, who are elected for terms of office of nine years by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council. It is assisted by a Registry, its administrative organ. Its official languages are English and French. 3. Ad-Hoc Tribunals International tribunals have existed since the beginning of the modern international system, with the purpose of settling disputes in-between States and sometimes other international actors. It is mainly with the Nuremberg trials after World War II, however, that ad hoc tribunals dealing with criminal cases against individuals have been created to deal with the core international crimes, namely genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The first international criminal tribunals were established in the 1990's, to respond to atrocities committed during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and the mass-killings in Rwanda. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and its sister court for Rwanda (ICTR) were both created by the UN Security Council. Since then, special courts have also been set up to prosecute domestic and international crimes. Examples of such mixed tribunals can be found in Kosovo, Bosnia Herzegovina, East Timor, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, and most recently Lebanon. 4. International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) investigates and, where warranted, tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Court is participating in a global fight to end impunity, and through international criminal justice, the Court aims to hold those responsible accountable for their crimes and to help prevent these crimes from happening again. The Court cannot reach these goals alone. As a court of last resort, it seeks to complement, not replace, national Courts. Governed by an international treaty called the Rome Statute, the ICC is the world’s first permanent international criminal court. 5. Crimes War crimes and crimes against humanity are among the gravest crimes in international law. They are considered so serious that there is no period of limitation for such crimes, which means that those who commit them can be prosecuted and punished no matter how much time has elapsed since the crimes were committed. * War Crime ** Act that constitutes a serious violation of the law of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility. Examples of war crimes include intentionally killing civilians or prisoners, torture, destroying civilian property, taking hostages, perfidy, rape, using child soldiers, pillaging, declaring that no quarter will be given, and serious violations of the principles of distinction and proportionality, such as strategic bombing of civilian populations. * Crimes Against Humanity ** Are certain acts that are deliberately committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack or individual attack directed against any civilian or an identifiable part of a civilian population. The first prosecution for crimes against humanity took place at the Nuremberg trials. Some examples of this types of crimes are: aggression, terrorism, genocide, torture, piracy, human trafficking. 6. Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapon The NPT is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament. The Treaty represents the only binding commitment in a multilateral treaty to the goal of disarmament by the nuclear-weapon States. Opened for signature in 1968, the Treaty entered into force in 1970. On 11 May 1995, the Treaty was extended indefinitely. A total of 191 States have joined the Treaty, including the five nuclear-weapon States. More countries have ratified the NPT than any other arms limitation and disarmament agreement, a testament to the Treaty’s significance. 7. Geneva Protocol The Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, usually called the Geneva Protocol, is a treaty prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons in international armed conflicts. It was signed at Geneva on 17 June 1925 and entered into force on 8 February 1928. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on 7 September 1929. The Geneva Protocol is a protocol to the Convention for the Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition and in Implements of War signed on the same date, and followed the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. * Biological Weapons Convention (1972-1975) ** Widely supported (175 states, no major powers amongst absentees) ** Bans use and spread of both biological agents (diseases) and toxins in weapons * Chemical Weapons Convention (1992-1993) ** Bans production and use of chemical weapons ** Promise of the destruction of existing chemical weapons à delayed/ignored by many concerned countries ** 192 countries signed; the Korea’s, Israel and Egypt never signed